Hire Truckers Podcast

00:00 - 00:27
Michael Loombard: It was fear mixed with doubt, mixed with anxiety, mixed with actual exhaustion. There was already 20 something boats at DNF the first night. We saw one guy who ended up going to the hospital and then the words that my teammates said that kind of clicked me into a better gear is when he said, let's DNF the right way. If we're not going to finish this race, let's do it the right way. Let's miss the next cutoff or break this boat in half.

00:27 - 00:57
Aaron Craddock: Let's go. Welcome to the Hire Truckers Podcast. I'm your host, Aaron Craddock. And so we're gonna drive straight into mindset today. So, Lombard, you came 30 miles short of the finish line last year of the Texas Water Safari.

00:57 - 01:02
Aaron Craddock: What made you suffer through another year of training and go back and do it again?

01:02 - 01:26
Michael Loombard: Great question because so it's funny about last year's race at Texas Water Safari was again, so I don't I don't even canoe for I don't canoe for recreation. Like I don't it's not a hobby of mine. You know, I I became a runner, especially when I was working over the road as a truck driver. I'm a runner and a triathlete. And I enjoy, you know, that type of endurance and those types of sports, even even the high rock stuff.

01:27 - 01:52
Michael Loombard: And how I came to discover the race, I think, is really, really what makes it special. And I I found out about the Texas Water Safari in 2024. I was up in Waco, Texas, about to race at the Waco seventy point three Triathlon, and we were at a farmer's market and a gentleman who was selling stuff at the Waco Farmer's Market. He noticed one of the tattoos in my legs. I have a I have a Hartford Whalers as well as the Hartford yard goat set too.

01:52 - 02:03
Michael Loombard: One is a former NHL team. One's a minor league baseball team. And, you know, he know we get to talking. He we're from, you know, he's from a town over from where my parents live. We, you know, we're fast friends.

02:03 - 02:16
Michael Loombard: We start chopping it up. And then, you know, we connect we connect on social media and we we stay connected. I do the Waco race a month after Waco. I went to Ironman, Florida. And so this kind of and it was very and that kind of capped off a great year of 2024.

02:16 - 02:31
Michael Loombard: I, you know, I had never done triathlon. You know, I, so I went from zero triathlons to Ironman in six months relatively quickly. And so he shoots me a message and he goes, Hey man, I've, I've, I've seen your story now. I've, I've like, I've followed you along. I see what type of guy you are.

02:31 - 02:47
Michael Loombard: You should check this out. He sends me the link for the for the water safari and I look at it and I was like, the first thing I thought was number one, this is a canoe race. How could I even do this? I don't own a canoe or anything. But and then I was like, I don't know if I can actually do this.

02:47 - 03:05
Michael Loombard: I was like, this is probably one of those events that I would really need to again, like lock back in for. So I ended up sending the race to the only other person I know who would probably do it. My friend, Billy. I was like, Hey, man, do you want to do this in 2026? And he as soon as you looked at it, he's like, No, let's do it.

03:05 - 03:13
Michael Loombard: And he's like, Let's do it now. He's like, Let's do it. Let's go. Let's do it this year, 2025. And I was like, Okay, perfect.

03:13 - 03:21
Michael Loombard: And he's like and he wanted it, and he was so motivated. He took the reins on everything. He found two other guys. He was like, let's do a four man team. He found the boat.

03:21 - 03:48
Michael Loombard: We found this woman from this, like, Facebook group who kind of like, you know, talk coach just a bit. We went out on the we went out on the river, the San Marcos River with her, you know, one time. We so we had only gotten in a like a couple sessions before we went out. I think like twice before we went out last year and so and last year's race was I mean, it was great. It was definitely, I still walked away from it saying it was the most difficult thing I had done, even though the finish line was cut short by 30 miles.

03:48 - 04:08
Michael Loombard: And at the end of the twenty twenty five race, remember saying almost immediately, I was like, you know what? I was like, I will definitely come back to this race. I think that, you know, it's really special that that entire community and everything based off is great. I was like, it definitely wasn't gonna be a one and done. I know some people when it comes to racing endurance, it's like a one and done thing.

04:08 - 04:27
Michael Loombard: You hit it and you go, and it's just that's not my mentality. I was like, I wanna be a part of this race for a while, but I don't know if I'm gonna do it next year. And one of the guys who now this in this race, you do have like a you do have a crew and a team captain that meets you at checkpoints that can give you food, ice and water. One of the guys on our crew, they were really motivated. They're like, I'm going do it next year.

04:27 - 04:36
Michael Loombard: And I was like, perfect. So I can be your team captain or crew you. Flash forward 2026 rolls around. It's March. This gentleman's name is Nick.

04:36 - 04:47
Michael Loombard: You know, he, you know, he messaged me. He's like, hey, man, I'm still going to do the safari. You're not going to believe this. I'm having a really hard time finding anybody to do it with. And, it's true.

04:47 - 04:59
Michael Loombard: It's not like a five ks or, or, or a half marathon. It's not like any other sort of event. Is kind of difficult to find somebody who's going to paddle with you for two sixty miles. And he's like, I, he's like, really want to do it. I know I can't do it solo.

04:59 - 05:16
Michael Loombard: He's like, Dave. So our team captain by the way, I lift that out. The team our team captain who, is the guy who showed me the race, the person I met in Waco because he had done it in 2019. And, and, you know, and he's kind of always been a part of the community ever since as well. So he team captained for us.

05:16 - 05:23
Michael Loombard: He's like, Dave will will team captain for us. He'll be on a short crew. And I was like, you know what? Why? I was like, why not?

05:23 - 05:47
Michael Loombard: Like, at this point, I had know, ever since last year, probably not a day went by where I didn't think about being on that river because what was what is so great about that race? It's not even the challenge. It's the it's the fact that you are, you know, you're you're offline for like nothing matters. Like, there's no, you know, we had no myself. I was off my cell phone for four days.

05:47 - 05:57
Michael Loombard: There's no outside noise. There's no distraction. There's no news. There's no there's there's there's nothing. There's literally nothing else that matters and where you're at, what you're doing, and who's around you.

05:57 - 06:16
Michael Loombard: So I told him, yeah. And and this year, I I went in with like full confidence because I'd already done it before. So my I figured my brain had already logged the memory. Me and my teammate who I went out with, I mean, we we only got we only went out on a canoe together twice and we didn't hit any of the river. So we didn't touch any of the course.

06:16 - 06:36
Michael Loombard: We just went out in town like in Austin to get in sync and get some reps and see how it feels in that in that canoe, which was in aluminum. So the boats changed. Last year, we were in like a four person Kevlar, a little bit thinner, a little bit thinner, a little bit faster. That one also had a rudder this year was a little bit harder. It being aluminum, so it's heavier, with no rudder.

06:36 - 07:00
Michael Loombard: So you gotta figure out control a little bit more. And that's really it. So I mean, that's that's kind of what went into go a bit like going. I don't know what it was, but you know, for the first little bit after the race last year, was like, yeah, I'll do this again, but probably not for like for a while, maybe another year or two. Then but then the opportunity came up and when when you've done this race before, people kind of find out about it, and they want you.

07:00 - 07:03
Michael Loombard: And so they're gonna they're gonna hit you up to be around it.

07:04 - 07:19
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. And so I know, you know, this year you finished. So last year, you did 230 miles. This year, because of the flooding, I know they did let people down that last section. But this year you were able to do the full two sixty.

07:19 - 07:36
Aaron Craddock: Like, was there a point you know, we talked last week before the race, we were texting and you were like, hey, I'm gonna do this two sixty mile race. And then it's easy to just be like, oh, he did it. But like, was there a point you know, you're an endurance athlete. Like, you've done Ironmans. It's in your DNA.

07:37 - 07:41
Aaron Craddock: Was there a point though that you still wanted to quit, like in this this round?

07:42 - 08:08
Michael Loombard: Yeah, and worse than I've ever experienced in my life. And I remember doing the race last year, I was really I mean, I was I was just as excited this year because I just couldn't wait to get out on the river and just be be in it again. But last year, you know, at the starting line, I remember talking, you know, local news KXAN was down there and they were interviewing some people and I remember talking to him. His name is Jose. And I remember chatting with him and he's like, what are you looking forward to most?

08:08 - 08:30
Michael Loombard: Blah blah blah. And the words I said and I said, I'm looking forward to the the guy I'm gonna meet on the other side of this. I was like, I'm Mike Lombard today. Like who you're seeing today, Friday at 9AM is not gonna be the same person you see come come the finish line. And like there is like and there's gonna be such a change along that way.

08:30 - 09:01
Michael Loombard: And I remember in 2025, at mile 200 mile 200 is when I didn't necessarily want to quit, but that's when at Mile 200, this is a checkpoint in Victoria. So last year, I remember at this point, I was I was pretty delirious. I was I was slurring my words almost, you know, it's kind of wobbly and needed to eat. And I was and I kept hyping myself up. So I basically just kept talking, talking to myself like I'm going keep doing like out loud to almost like annoying the people around me.

09:02 - 09:27
Michael Loombard: I remember I ate like a Subway sandwich. Took, I have this secret recipe that helps with sleep deprivation. It's where you take twenty five grams of creatine, in one sitting and it's supposedly, you know, eliminates brain fog and everything. So I ate, I, you know, I I ripped the creatine and as soon as I got back in the vote after Mile 200, boom, everything, you know, everything went away and we we kept going to those last 30 miles. This year, it happened early and this is what was the most frightening.

09:28 - 10:01
Michael Loombard: So at Mile 85, it's the Gonzales Dam Checkpoint and we had just gone through the night and there's such a big difference between this year and last year. Again, we're in the aluminum boat. It's two of us instead of four of us and so I'm working twice as hard like it like I'm paddling twice as hard, moving twice, start having to having to control it. And that first day, that first overnight, that gap between Palmetto, I believe it's Palmetto State Park and Gonzales Dam is is the longest stretch of probably like still water where the river's like not really moving that much. You don't have a lot of current pushing you.

10:01 - 10:26
Michael Loombard: And so, you know, we trucked that whole night and by the time we get to Gonzales Dam, I mean, felt, I felt the same way at mile 200 last year than I did at 85. And I remember just in my mind, I was like, no matter what I was like, have like, we're, this is going be the longest stop we make. I've got to try to sleep. I was like, I got to try to rest. Then getting and dragging in this portage is tough because you got to drag it a hill and you got to carry it along a trail and then back down.

10:26 - 10:48
Michael Loombard: It's almost like a quarter mile outside as it was, and it was hot. And we get up there and it was, it was a dilemma time. Like I was in a state of total disbelief. I was like, I was really trying to rationalize everything in my brain to quit. I was saying everything except that said, I'm done.

10:48 - 11:11
Michael Loombard: Like I said, I said everything. Was just like, I was like, I shouldn't be feeling this way right now. There's no way like at Miley, if I like, I'm supposed to feel this way at two hundred, I'm supposed to feel this way two day, two days into the into the race. Like, this isn't this isn't supposed to happen. There's no way like so what it did was it freaking drilled me with anxiety of if I feel this way now, I could be putting my life at risk.

11:11 - 11:31
Michael Loombard: Like my life could be in danger. Like if I'm already feeling this terrible, this hot, this this run down, this beat up because this, this doesn't happen to me right now. They're like, it was, so it's almost a little bit of ego. And I was looking for any bit of validation I could. I was asking my teammates, seeing how he felt like, because if he felt worse than me, maybe he'd just be like, yeah, man, let's let's call it.

11:31 - 12:00
Michael Loombard: Like I was almost, I was seeking that out. And so it was a little bit of it was fear mixed with doubt, mixed with anxiety, mixed with actual exhaustion, knowing full well, like how many boats already DNF'd, you know, there's already 20 something boats that DNF'd the first night. We saw one guy who ended up going to the hospital at one of the other one of the other checkpoints. So it's like in my mind, like that's all racing through. And I tried to rest, couldn't sleep a bit because my body was just too wired.

12:01 - 12:26
Michael Loombard: I did what I did last year. I got the creatine in and then the words that my teammates said that kind of clicked me into a better gear is when he said, let's DNF the right way. He's like, if we're if we're not going to finish this race, let's do it the right way. He's like, let's miss the next check because you have some cutoff times for some of these checkpoints. He's like, let's miss the next cutoff.

12:26 - 12:29
Michael Loombard: He's like, or break this boat in half. He's like, like, that's like,

12:29 - 12:30
Aaron Craddock: let's go.

12:30 - 12:38
Michael Loombard: Like that. That's what he said. He's like, that that's it. He's like, let's just he's like, if we're going to do it, let's keep going. And if we miss the next cutoff, then that's our sign.

12:39 - 13:08
Michael Loombard: And then it clicked in me of, you know, this, there's an ultra runner, his name is Chad Wright, who says that all the time of don't die in the chair. Like, don't don't die in the chair. Like, don't quit while you're while you're sitting down. And at that point, like, I remember I stood up, I got my phone out, I got on my Instagram story, and I was like, alright, I'm gonna hype myself up, check-in with some people, let let them let them know how they're going. And I know I said that I was off my phones, but all I did was just like pick it up, record a quick video, put it back in, drank the creatine.

13:08 - 13:22
Michael Loombard: And just like last year at Mile 200, as soon as I got in the boat, as soon as I started paddling, it's like I had a full night's sleep. It's like all of that just went away. Everything just went away. But that Mile 85 was like that. I call it.

13:22 - 13:32
Michael Loombard: It was just a crash. I was crash out. It's a mental breakdown. It seemed as if there was no way out like there is and we were pulled over. You know, we were pulled over at that checkpoint for maybe an hour and a half.

13:32 - 13:54
Michael Loombard: And there was another team next to us too is having that same conversation. These two two guys who I believe are, like, NASA engineers as we got to talk to them older gentlemen. They were having that same kind of same kind of crash out, same kind of dilemma. And that's what it was. Once I heard, Let's DNF the right way, I was like, Abs- that's the most- most correct thing I could ever think of.

13:55 - 14:05
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Yeah, it's wild. Yeah, I would have thought, you know, just with doing Iron Mans and things like that, that you wouldn't even have one of those moments, and especially that early.

14:05 - 14:29
Michael Loombard: And that's what I think was the bigger problem was, I think my own ego and my own experience was working against me at that point of thinking like in the way, like, like me thinking I had this mentality of like, this can't happen to me. Like, I've moved past this. I've already done so many difficult things. I've done this race. You know, I've done, you know, 90% of this race last year.

14:29 - 15:13
Michael Loombard: I've done the done the Ironmans. I've done I ran the marathons while I was working over the road. I've, you know, I was in the Marines like I have I had all this book of experience that was telling me that I'm, I'm past all, I'm past all of those mental breakdowns and past those blockages, like, like almost like, like I was invincible to feeling that way again, depending on the circumstance. And so the fact that I was feeling that way, thinking in my brain that I'm invincible to that made me uncomfortable, made me uneasy to think that who am I to be experiencing this level of dread, doubt, and, and being so run down when it's not supposed to be me? So it's like, it's almost like it was working against me.

15:13 - 15:23
Michael Loombard: Think because in my mind, I should, I shouldn't be feeling this way right now. I should be able to move forward, but I'm not. So why me? How, how, why is this happening to me? It must be something wrong.

15:23 - 15:42
Michael Loombard: I must be on the verge of overworking myself. But really, I think it was just I I I think it was just because I'm actually doing something that's incredibly difficult and that you can't rule out the fact that, nobody's impervious to, those types of obstacles that you're going to face and that type of doubt.

15:44 - 16:04
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, I like speaking about just willing to do it at all costs. Like, I had some mentors earlier, like seven years ago when I started the Krautok Holdings that turned into Hire Truckers. And I had some mentors. I told them like, Hey, I have this big goal. And several of them were like, You have to have a why.

16:04 - 16:11
Aaron Craddock: And I'm like, What do you mean? Like, it's just a cool thing to do. I wanna do it. And they're like, No, you'll quit. And I'd never thought about that in the business context.

16:13 - 16:29
Aaron Craddock: And so they made me. And so I it was three mentors in a two week period saying you had to have a really strong why. Just as one of the ways to stay on the course. And then sat down and I was like, okay, I want time with family. I want this.

16:29 - 16:45
Aaron Craddock: I want to be able to impact this many millions of people. I want to do X, Y, Z. And I have needed that more than I ever imagined, you know, seven years in. And I thought I was gonna be kind of like the ego. I had been involved in a 9 figure business before, like building it.

16:46 - 17:21
Aaron Craddock: And so, was like, Oh, this is gonna be, you know, a piece of cake. Like, I got this. But then those hard moments came, like the years of just burning cash, and just you know, just sleepless nights, stress. And just if I had not taken their advice and like thought about what is my why, like, compel it like, compelling me and pushing me. And then similar to you, like, if you hadn't had that one guy beside you, like Nick, to say, hey, let's just DNF the right way.

17:22 - 17:38
Aaron Craddock: Like, the difference between success and failure is just smaller than you could ever imagine. And so, yeah, that's just awesome that you kept pushing. Like, how would you be feeling today? Like, let's talk about it. Because a lot of people stop.

17:39 - 18:04
Aaron Craddock: You know, you know, they think that they're 200 and something miles from the finish, or a 100 and something like you were 80 something miles in, and they quit. And but then they don't realize that all it took, you know, is just keep putting one foot in front of the other and get past that moment. What yeah. What would be what would you be feeling today if you had if you'd given up?

18:05 - 18:50
Michael Loombard: Yeah. And that's that's what that's what almost what haunted me for so much for so much that that haunted me for almost the the rest of the race and, like, part of what kept me pushing on because I know if we did tap at that point, I would have, like, we would have gotten in the gotten in the sprinter van, started driving home. And I like by the I guarantee that by the time we, like I sat in the, in the sprinter van, I would have, I would have probably already felt fine. Like, know, I know for a fact that if we had called it within the same amount of time it took just like how when I got back in the boat, I felt fine. I know that if we called it and finished it there, I've like, I would have it would have been an immediate an immediate regret if we if we chosen to to pull out of the race.

18:50 - 19:33
Michael Loombard: And I would have felt fine, and we would have got and I would have gotten home Saturday and I would have probably, you know, cried myself to sleep felt terrible because I should still be on the river. I should still be on the river with those people. I know that there's people out there on that river who are maybe, you know, maybe quote unquote not as as capable as II am to do it and that there's I like I'm going to see the type of people who finish and be like, you know, how did they finish and I didn't what made me quit, what made them not quit and I would've it would have buried me especially because I don't know if I'm going to compete in this race next year because, you know, my wife my wife and I are expecting our first child. So we might be, you know, I might have a six month year old at that point, so I don't know if I'm gonna race. I think I'll probably crew it next year.

19:33 - 19:47
Michael Loombard: That would be that would be the plan. So it's like, I don't know if I had get another crack at it next year. So it would have, it would have ruined my entire week. It would have ruined the next couple of weeks. I would say for me to, before I like was able to like pick up and sort of quote, get, get over it.

19:47 - 20:10
Michael Loombard: And, and like that, that right there, that right there is everything like me being able to stand here and kind of tell this story and talk about mindset. And I'm glad that you bring up the why, because having that why is really, really, really important. And I think that the why was definitely is what kept me going back on that course, of leaning that out.

20:10 - 20:18
Aaron Craddock: What is your what is your why like to do to do all the endurance stuff that you do, and then to push through this race?

20:18 - 21:06
Michael Loombard: It's, you know, my why continues to always be, I want to be the individual who's setting the example of why we need to change the culture of health and fitness within the trucking industry. And for me, and this is how I just discovered it. And it was when I came off the road in 2023, it was one thing to be the trucker, you know, the guy who ran five marathons as an over the road trucker. So one thing to be that that person, but that only gets you so far in into into this world, or at least in the world that I was trying to get in or to get people to listen to you in my own head because I don't have, you know, unlike other people within the industry. Again, I've, you know, I don't, you know, I'm not a c suite guy.

21:06 - 21:13
Michael Loombard: I don't work for this company. I don't have this degree. I don't I don't have the the accolades that a lot of people who

21:13 - 21:13
Aaron Craddock: that a

21:13 - 21:30
Michael Loombard: lot of people who do get listeners to in the industry have. So I needed to become that person, become somebody that people would listen to. And how do you do that? You do the things that, you know, very, very rarely people do. And that's what got me, that's what got me into the Iron Man arena.

21:30 - 22:02
Michael Loombard: It's like, okay, if I can get myself into this arena, I know that once you get that get an accolade like that, people do people do find interest in it because they think is it such a, you know, there's such a small percentage of the population who does it when it comes up in conversation, no matter where you are, whether it's a conference or whatever. Oh, this person does this. Oh, and this is the this is the rest of his story. Oh, maybe this is a guy who's, you know, kind of worth worth listening to. So as a way of building my own resume in doing this race is me putting my own advice to the test.

22:02 - 22:10
Michael Loombard: I go on my own podcast. I go on other shows. I talk on radio. I go on XM once a week. I say it to drivers all the time.

22:10 - 22:35
Michael Loombard: I go on LinkedIn and say it. I'm always telling people and I coach part time at Orange Theory. I tell people, do things that scare you, take risks, sign up for something that you don't know you can do. I'm always feeding that to people because it's something that I've done that's worked out. Like every hard thing that I've done when it came to running the marathons over the road to doing Ironman, everything I've ever wanted was on the other side of doing of doing that hard thing.

22:35 - 23:04
Michael Loombard: And what and who I've become on the other side of it is just so much better. I'm just a happier person, better to, you know, better to be around like the energy I have like every like the person I want to be the or the person I've wanted to become has always been on the other side of hard and that's what this and so doing this race like both like and being able to do the full Texas Water Safari is me practicing what I preach. You know, tell people day in, day out, you gotta do hard things. It's gonna take a change. Take those risks and do that.

23:04 - 23:44
Michael Loombard: So, who am I to say, like, again, I put I've just my own goalpost move, and it's like, I'm gonna keep telling people to do that, I need to keep doing it myself in any way I can. And so what better way than doing this race? And I needed to you know, and I really wanted to walk away doing and completing that race this year, to continue to have that, you know, to have that testimony and accolade of this is how I am on the other side of this race. This is how you will be on the other side of whatever it is you're trying to do. So is the, my why has everything to do with setting the example, leading by example, to change the culture around health and fitness in the, in, within this entire industry.

23:44 - 23:55
Michael Loombard: And I've got to, I've got to live that every single day and who, and who I am, how I talk, but also how I act. And yeah, that basically sums it up.

23:56 - 24:28
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Yeah, just did. I mean, it would have been a conflict with who you know, your identity, like this identity that you've taken all these years to develop of the guy that does hard things, that pushes through, that regardless of what your mind is telling you, you didn't do it. I think it's helpful just for the audience too to hear just someone who's been really successful in health and fitness to also still have these moments. Because I think some people think once you have a level of success, that it's suddenly you're not gonna hit that wall again.

24:28 - 24:50
Aaron Craddock: And that was part of what you were wrestling with is like, oh, I shouldn't be hitting this wall mentally. And I, like, in the different things that that I've built and and have worked on, like, I hit those walls, like, I mean, weekly, like, sort of wall, where I'm like, I don't wanna show up today. I don't wanna do this. Like, this is too hard. I wanna quit.

24:50 - 25:15
Aaron Craddock: And and that could be anywhere from health and fitness, like whatever the current fitness journey I'm on. That could be the business side, like showing up and doing content. Like, that's not easy too. And and just the I think so many people can see just the product of it. Like, even you doing your show and you showing up in all the different ways you're doing, like, and showing up and not know that you have that voice.

25:16 - 25:44
Aaron Craddock: I have that voice saying, well, maybe we should just take it easy. Maybe we should quit. Maybe we should phone it in, like, in whatever category. And I think just like, with like, trucking specifically and and driver recruiting and our audience in general, like freight executives, fleet executives, influencers industry, recruiters. Like, they all have days and times they don't want to show up or it's hard.

25:45 - 26:09
Aaron Craddock: And I think this message just helps them just know, like, keep trying. Like, don't realize that sometimes the line between success and failure is just so small in this instance. So you got, you know, mostly through the race. You're you're down the last little bit. So I asked her I asked before we started the show, like, did you did you finish?

26:10 - 26:23
Aaron Craddock: And you said, yes. However, there were some challenges. So so go into you know, it didn't you know, the challenges didn't necessarily stop at mile 85. Like, what what's some of the more story like, some more of the story as you kept kept going?

26:23 - 26:54
Michael Loombard: Yeah. At that point, what was challenging was at that we you know we wanted to make those cutoffs or we you know we didn't we didn't want to miss any sort of cutoffs at checkpoints and we didn't we were in a good we were in a good amount of time But the the last 30 miles was the toughest part, and it's kind of designed that way. So as you get to once you get to mile two thirty, you're at the Invictus Swinging Bridge. And that's like that was the finish line last year. And getting there, we felt great.

26:55 - 27:26
Michael Loombard: It but this and this is where kind of community actually helped out a lot because that the last probably 10 miles. So there was a before the Swinging Bridge, I want to say it was at about mile two twenty ish about mile two twenty. There was a log jam that had a mandatory portage that wasn't there last year. So this is a tree that came down recently within weeks or debris that had come down. And it was, and so you there was this other mandatory portage that was pretty, you know, pretty pretty challenging to get around because it had been raining.

27:26 - 27:42
Michael Loombard: It was muddy. But what that did was that mandatory portage brought a lot brought about seven or eight aluminum boats, together, and we're all kind of moving at the same speed. So we all got over it. You know, we all all were able to get get our boats around this log jam. And then we all hung out until we got the swinging bridge.

27:42 - 28:02
Michael Loombard: Like, we're all kind of going the same speed, chopping it up, like, you know, telling to getting to know each other, along that part of the river. It's pretty wide. It's moving pretty decent. And so that was so almost like a little community form of all these people in aluminum boats, these couple different teams. We we get to the Swinging Bridge, Everybody there refuels.

28:02 - 28:31
Michael Loombard: It's it's raining. But we're we're psyched because this is it. This is literally the last stretch these last 30 miles. So, we've got it mapped out between mile two thirty and the finish line is a section you have what's a section referred to as the cuts and then you have the San Antonio Bay and the what the cuts are is, you eventually hit this log jam and you can see it. The log jam goes on for, you know, about a mile and when that log jam happens, there's a little creek that cuts off to the right.

28:31 - 28:48
Michael Loombard: It literally cuts. That's why it's called the cuts. The river cuts out to the right. And then, you know, the part that part of the cuts, the cuts is if you cut off flowing water, it's gonna the water's gonna cut to one side, and then it's going to do whatever it can to find its way back to the to the river. And that's what it does.

28:48 - 29:08
Michael Loombard: So you kinda cut out, and then you kinda gotta keep to the left. But it's very easy to get lost, and it's very easy to miss that turn to stay left. And if you stay right, you wind up in Alligator Lake, and you don't wanna be there. And we didn't, but you've got about two ish miles of fighting through the cuts where you've got to play Tetris. You're getting in and out.

29:08 - 29:21
Michael Loombard: You're moving your boat. You know, you're moving your boat over some more obstacles while you're in the water. So you've got to step on submerge logs to do this. So it's really fast, you know, fast paced while you're trying to move all this stuff. It's pretty it's pretty physical.

29:21 - 29:42
Michael Loombard: You know, you're we were having to pull ourselves up out of the water, like almost doing muscle ups on these logs to get up on these, like, logs that are submerged just to, like, pull this stuff over. So that's it's a physically challenging part. And then you get you get through that. And if we had to do that at night, I mean, would have taken us even longer. So we were blessed to do it during the day.

29:42 - 29:58
Michael Loombard: So that was another physically challenging part. At this point too, mind you, I wanna say, I mean, hands are so raw. I mean, like, it would like it's like and I'm still at this point. Like, I still don't have full feeling back in my hands. I can't make a I can't I can't make a fist with both of my hands.

29:59 - 30:18
Michael Loombard: So it's like, you're doing you're doing all this stuff. But because it took so long to get through the cuts, we keep trucking. We get we get down. We're headed towards the southern, you know, the Southern Guadalupe River, section. We hit the it's not necessarily a checkpoint, but we get to an RV park, which is where we our last refueling station.

30:19 - 30:26
Michael Loombard: So RV park, we do it, and we have a final little powwow. Okay. This is how it's gonna look. This is where we're gonna go. The bay is looking like glass.

30:27 - 30:41
Michael Loombard: We're good. And if it we had a map in front of us, I could show you. But essentially, we were gonna you're supposed to take the river down. You follow the southern part down. It pops you out into the bay, and then you essentially would just you cross over it, and then you follow the the land.

30:41 - 31:07
Michael Loombard: Once you cross over a part of the bay, you've you've like, you follow the land, the shores on your left. You follow along on your left past these cargo ship channels. It you'll you'll follow it down, and then you just eventually, you come around Swan Point, and then you kind of see sea drift in the distance. You'll see the lights, and then you keep going, and you'll and you'll reach the finish. What happened with us is as we came down the river, we were conserving our lights because one of our lights wasn't doing very good for us.

31:07 - 31:28
Michael Loombard: So we, were using headlamps. And as I was scanning, going down the river, I didn't see there's like like for you to stay right on the Guadalupe River. It's a, it's a, it's kind of more of a narrow section that that where you keep right. Didn't do that. It looks like the river just keeps going, cuts a little bit to the left and then it cut back right.

31:28 - 31:48
Michael Loombard: And we kept going down and all of a sudden we popped out into what's called Mission Lake, which is just a, you know, it's, it's a, it's a lake, but it's attached to the San Antonio Bay itself, but a little bit north of where we wanted to be. And we were just out there. It was pitch black. There's lightning above us. And it looks like, I mean, feels like we're in the middle of sort of the ocean in a way.

31:48 - 32:10
Michael Loombard: But in this lake and you we just we see lights off in the distance and we have no idea where we're at. We start moving a little bit to the right and then we find another paddler. And it's, you know, it's this gentleman, this gentleman, believe his name is Jose. I can't remember his name off the top of my head. But this other guy, and he comes over and he's got this he got a whole bunch of energy with him.

32:10 - 32:20
Michael Loombard: He goes, oh, did you guys miss the miss the last checkpoint too? Did you miss it? We just came down through through this inlet, and he's like, we're good. So we rally up with them. We kinda try to figure out where we are.

32:20 - 32:28
Michael Loombard: And so we, you know, we keep moving. We keep trucking through the night. Eventually, we have to we have to charge one of our phones. Nobody's phone's charging. I had to dig mine out.

32:29 - 33:12
Michael Loombard: But this last part was especially hard because we had to charge these phones. We had to we finally called our team captain, figured out where we were, and then we had to find our way to those cargo you know, to that cargo shipping channel to be on the other side of it to go. The good thing that happened was we did cross the bay, which is the hardest part because the bay can be quite scary depending on waves, but we were just still that far up north and, it was raining again and, you know, I was like at one point, I mean, I was we were walking the boat along like this this shore because we didn't wanna be out as the rain and the storms has picked up. And I was and I was literally shivering like my jaw jaw was jacking. I had to break out these space blankets.

33:12 - 33:29
Michael Loombard: I mean, it got it got pretty intense out in that bay, but we kept we kept moving. We we get to where we need to be. We find Swan Point. We find Seadrift. And as we're finish line is in sight, the storm continues to this this storm that's out in the bay continues to pick up.

33:29 - 33:52
Michael Loombard: And from where we were at to the finish line, I mean, it might be I couldn't I don't know the distance offhand, but we're cutting right across and the waves are probably three, four feet. And it's like paddling through concrete because the winds going against us. And we've got a truck and just in like we did not stop. And it was just like, and it was nonstop. And we get to this little lip that's probably 500 feet from the finish line.

33:53 - 34:15
Michael Loombard: It's like a bunch of seashells, and I rolled out of the boat there and was shivering again and had to get warm. And then we had one last little little rallying cry because we were we were right there. And there was a little bit of a calm, actually, so we were good. And we I think we stopped there for maybe, like, twenty minutes because I had to literally get warm because I was just, like, shake like, shaking so cold out. And I remember being so mad about it.

34:15 - 35:03
Michael Loombard: I was like, we're in Seadrift and it's June, like it's supposed to be hot and humid, but here it was freaking cold, like cold and raining and like, just like my knees and my jaws were just were shaking. But we got back in, rolled through, but navigating through the cuts in the bay, because once again, was supposed to, you know, being in the bay shouldn't have been as long as it took, was just frustrating because we had to literally navigate ourselves out in like almost total darkness in the, in what looks like the ocean. And so that was just like the toughest part right there, getting through the bay, especially at that point, dealing with now we're going on ninety something hours. The only time I slept, mind you, during this entire trip was between four and 04:30 in the morning on Sunday. I was able to close my eyes for thirty minutes and get, get a little bit, get a little bit of a reset.

35:03 - 35:05
Michael Loombard: And that was it. So really, you know, so

35:05 - 35:07
Aaron Craddock: you slept thirty minutes and ninety hours.

35:07 - 35:28
Michael Loombard: That's it. Like, I think our total race time was ninety four, ninety four hours or something, ninety six, something like that. And then in total, was, I was able to, where I knew that I fell asleep for thirty minutes. So at that point, it's just like, I'm shivering, you know, I'm shivering my legs. We were so, we were so ready to be done, but navigating the cuts in the bay was just its other challenge.

35:29 - 35:45
Michael Loombard: There was no point in my mind when we were in the bay, all I could think about was, I did not get this far to fire a flare. Like, we're not quitting at this. Like, at that point, there was definitely no quitting. There was definitely no DNFing at that point, but I definitely just wanted to be done.

35:45 - 35:49
Aaron Craddock: Did anybody DNF, like, in the bay?

35:50 - 36:20
Michael Loombard: Not that we knew of. I know sometimes people do because of because the storm can come in and it can get very dangerous. But as far as I knew, nobody that we knew, nobody that we had heard of, not not during that race, but there are people who do like what like the two guys, the two paddlers we met who we kind of helped land nav through through the bay together. One of them had done it, and this guy inspired me. He said, you know, it was his fourth time doing the safari, and three other times he's done it.

36:20 - 36:34
Michael Loombard: He's had his teammates, his teammate or partners quit. And so he he was definitely, all all in on finishing. But in one of the times that they quit, they, you know, they they had to they quit in the bay, and I was like, that's not gonna be us.

36:35 - 36:44
Aaron Craddock: Did you ever did you ever encourage I think it was Nick you said was with you this year as your partner. Did you ever need to, like, give him that push kind of like he gave you?

36:44 - 36:59
Michael Loombard: Oh, yeah. A couple times, throughout it, especially especially when there was, you know, in the bay, there were these lethal mosquitoes that could just go right through your shirt and everything. They're huge. Yeah. It was freaking and yeah, I'm I'm covered in in all that stuff.

36:59 - 37:19
Michael Loombard: I just tell around my ankles and everything. And there was definitely some times during the night I've had to I've had to wrap. Yeah. I I definitely we definitely, you know, helped each other win in a lot of ways. I had to rally him at other points when he was getting, you know, because he was again, this is a race where where you can become very delirious, start to hallucinate, the the trees start to shape shift on you.

37:20 - 37:56
Michael Loombard: I have it like you think you're seeing people, but really, it's just like a, you know, it really is just part of a tree that's coming out of the water. So, I mean, he was really going through. He was seeing he was seeing a whole lot whole lot of stuff. And, I I definitely had to snap him out of snap him out of a few episodes of just, you know, hit him him kind of, you know, his own his own complaining and like grunting and all that stuff. I've had to I definitely had to, you know, keep keep his head on square and fire and fire him up and everything and talk it like a lot of what I did was just keep talking, like just keep having random conversation, bring a lot of stuff up.

37:56 - 38:01
Michael Loombard: That is what'll kind of keep you keep you going through that. I think I was really good, really good at that for him.

38:02 - 38:29
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, you kind of lose track when you're talking. Well, is we're getting close on time. So like, what is one one takeaway you want to leave the industry with just from this whole journey? It can be from the two sixty miles, or it can be just from your whole journey of just self improvement and growth and becoming the person you know that you want to be.

38:29 - 38:58
Michael Loombard: Absolutely. I mean, if I could leave anything to the industry, especially just in my own experience, and what with what everybody's going on, especially because you're right, you know, we're currently right now, you know, June 2026, we're seeing an uptick in the industry, at least in regards to freight rates in a lot of different ways. Know that rates going up is, you know, it's a good thing. This industry is volatile, but there's a lot going on and I know it's changing And every link in the chain is going through it. Brokerage is going through different changes now on the recruiting side.

38:58 - 39:48
Michael Loombard: I know it's it's definitely getting tougher finding drivers, keeping them, retaining them. And I think everybody right now in 2026 is hitting a point of they're hitting their mile 85 in a lot of different ways and but just like we covered, you know, throughout this last hour, that mile 85 or that breaking point again, I thought I saw that breaking point at mile 200 in 20 in 2025 where I was delirious and I was this and and like it was that moment that was one of those moments where I knew it and I called it out but truly those moments where you like the actual moment that is is like, you're not gonna be expecting it. Like, I went into 2025 expecting that that wall. Like, I was, like, looking forward to it. And I think that's what actually kept me going.

39:48 - 40:10
Michael Loombard: And in 2026, I didn't expect it to hit that wall and didn't expect it hit that early, and there was nothing motivating about it. It was it was like I'd never been in such a dark place. I'd never been in and I guarantee that there's people who are going through this right now, whether it's through work or whatever they have going on or any of their goals or if they have fitness goals. Like, there's a point to where it seems like you're plateauing. Nothing's working.

40:10 - 40:32
Michael Loombard: Nothing's makes sense. Nothing seems to be jiving, and everything's making like, everything is making you uncomfortable. Everything you're doing is just making you uncomfortable, and you're trying to rationalize your way out of it or figuring out a way out of it instead of going through it. And if you're at that moment, you you quite literally just have just have to keep going. And again, what is keep going look like?

40:32 - 41:07
Michael Loombard: I at least at mile 85 stopped, reloaded, recalibrated like I stopped, I ate food, I put my my body laid horizontal, you know, where I didn't sleep, but I in theory rested. I had to reset and then keep going. And that might be what your mile 85 looks like. It might be taking a moment to stop, reflect, reload, recalibrate, and then continue to do exactly what you know you need to do, but you need to do that. The key is to not the key is to not stop and then stay stopped, but it's stop, pause, reload.

41:08 - 41:24
Michael Loombard: Again, I had a teammate. I had a team captain. I had my wife that I was texting throughout the thing, lean on the people around you, your community, figure it, you know, don't go to people who are going to tell you because that's the thing. We're surrounded by people who will kind of validate you. Yeah, man, it is too hard.

41:24 - 41:49
Michael Loombard: Yeah, you already went 85 miles. That's hard enough as it is. Like, there's no harm, no foul. There's a lot of those people. Find those people who you know, who have pushed on the other side or who are at where you want to be, lean on them and then pick up and you can get right back into it because there is when it comes to failure and when it comes to capability, anybody's capabilities, whatever you think your capabilities are, you're wrong.

41:49 - 41:58
Michael Loombard: Like you're already wrong. If you think your capabilities are your limits, you don't know them. Like we don't know our capabilities. We don't know our limits. We really don't.

41:59 - 42:11
Michael Loombard: Because truthfully, they don't exist no matter who you are. Doesn't matter your degree. Doesn't matter what company you work for. It doesn't matter your job title. None of those define what your capabilities and your limitations are.

42:11 - 42:14
Michael Loombard: The only person who sets them is you.

42:15 - 42:33
Aaron Craddock: That's good. That's gold. The, yeah, so today, just for credibility, like, this is Mike Lombard, and so marine veteran, you heard about his triathlons, Ironman athlete, host of the Lombard Trucking Show. I think you're you're are you fourth generation trucking?

42:34 - 43:06
Michael Loombard: Yeah, technically, a little brief story. In theory, it took a skip over my it took a skip over my father, but my family started Lombard Trucking in 1923 from a horse and carriage company, they sold in '84. But my dad didn't drive, but owns a small parts manufacturer, technically has a USDOT number on one of his trucks, but didn't necessarily drive, skipped me and then I had gotten into the industry. So yes, the name itself, I'm very, very proud of a name that goes back goes back over one hundred years in And, it's also part of my why as well to prove prove those people right.

43:06 - 43:36
Aaron Craddock: There's a power just in heritage and, like, that's, that's what I try to say. Like, thinking about with my three boys, like, want to make, like, over inheritance, like financially or anything like that, like, I want to give them a heritage that they're just proud of and like something that they can continue to build on. And it's so rare, you even hear past three generations, you know? And like, usually, it's like one or two generations. So that's that's pretty cool you have that legacy to keep building on and and be part of your why.

43:37 - 44:07
Aaron Craddock: So, yeah, I I just really appreciate your time today. Honestly, you you personally have been an encouragement to me, just because of how you push and how you show up. And that yeah, it's just so important, like, to get around people that inspire you and call you up to your better self. And so I'm encouraged today to keep pushing pushing harder, keep growing. I liked that point at the end around, like, whatever you think your limits are.

44:07 - 44:21
Aaron Craddock: Like, I think I still put artificial caps on what I can do in my life in different areas. So, yeah, I really appreciate it. Really appreciate your mindset. Really appreciate who you are. Really appreciate what you're doing for driver health and the industry as you're a big advocate for that.

44:22 - 44:27
Aaron Craddock: And yeah, we're just making the you're making the world better one person at a time. Appreciate you.

44:27 - 44:28
Michael Loombard: Thank you, sir. Appreciate you.